Amy Blackburn loves digging into data to find the story it’s telling. It’s what makes her a careful systems designer; the kind who reads the trends and the history before she commits to a structure, and it’s what steadies her when a project gets tense. When the pressure is on, she’s the one who goes to the facts and gets everyone back on solid ground.
As Director of Architecture at Lane Four, Amy Blackburn designs the Salesforce systems our clients run on and leads the team that builds them. We sat down with her to talk about where that instinct comes from and how it shapes her work.
How did your path lead you into system architecture and what eventually brought you to Lane Four?
Amy Blackburn: “I started out very hands-on. I was on a broadband support desk, then moved into a big luxury retailer, fixing registers and patching servers; really physical, in-the-weeds tech work. After I had my son, I decided to take a step back and go get my degree in computer science, and that’s where I pivoted away from the hands-on side and into software and development.
My first taste of architecture came when I was working for a large law firm. Marketing had just bought Salesforce, and a colleague said, ‘You’d be a good fit for this. Do you want to help us with the implementation?’ That first implementation ended up being much bigger than I expected: 2,500 users, global, across multiple departments. It was high risk with a huge user group, so I couldn’t just think ‘add this field, make it do that.’ I had to think about scoping, user stories, change management, rollout, all the structural things. I was lucky to start my career with that mindset embedded from day one, and I still look back to that project when I’m thinking through similar client challenges now.
What brought me to Lane Four specifically was the culture and the people. That proximity to our leaders, being able to work so closely with them and grow from that, is what drew me in and what’s kept me here. I get to evolve as a person; not just in my technical skills.”
You have a real love for digging into data and figuring out the story it’s telling. How does that instinct show up in the way you approach architecture day-to-day?
Amy Blackburn: “It’s twofold. On one side, I love looking at trends and historical data and helping clients make more data-driven decisions, whether that’s planning a new lead conversion process, weighing up migration risk, or thinking through the right sequence for maintaining certain systems. I lean on the data and I trust it.
The other side shows up when the stakes are high. On a launch, or when we’re troubleshooting something live, I’d rather work from what the system is actually doing than from how it feels in the moment. I’ll go to the server-side logs and do the deep debugging, so we’re grounded in what’s really happening. That same habit is how I keep clients reassured and protect the team. I’ll point them back to the facts: when we launched, how the system is holding up, how far along we are against the plan, so everyone has an honest, clear picture of where things stand. Data is the foundation on both sides, the build and the relationship.”
Can you give an example of a time reading into the data changed the direction of a project?
Amy Blackburn: “On a Service Cloud implementation, the original plan was to bring the client’s ERP integration in during a second phase. That’s where their orders, quotes, customers, and contacts live. We scope a first phase knowing the sequence can shift as we learn more about the business, and as we got deeper into theirs, I went back to the data on how those records actually moved through their processes. It was clear this integration underpinned far more of their day-to-day than a typical phase-two item would.
So we resequenced and brought it into phase one. That meant on day one, their reps and agents logged into a system already populated with their real data, their history, their orders, everything they needed to do the job, rather than a shell that would be filled in later. Letting the data guide the sequencing is how you make sure what goes live on day one is genuinely useful, not just technically complete.”
A big part of this role is designing the structure of new systems before a single line of configuration happens. How do you approach that early architectural thinking, especially when a client’s business needs are still taking shape?
Amy Blackburn: “I focus very deliberately on what’s genuinely needed for an MVP, and sometimes, that doesn’t mean it won’t be super shiny or impactful. It does mean keeping phase one controlled and well-defined, with the understanding that we can iterate or do a fast follow afterwards. The question I keep coming back to is: how do we make this as big a success as we can on day one?
At that early stage, the requirements are still forming and nobody fully knows the end state yet, so designing for the perfect finished product is a trap. I’d rather stay aligned to the output, the why and the what we’re actually trying to achieve, than chase perfectly formed requirements that don’t exist yet. It’s the crawl, walk, run approach we talk about a lot here, and it matters even more when a client is newer to Salesforce. Starting with a focused phase one, backed by a clear plan for what comes next, lets us show our work and prove we can do a considered, intentional job.”
You lead and support a technical Center of Excellence here. What does building that kind of shared technical practice look like day-to-day?
Amy Blackburn: “It’s really a few things working together. Day-to-day, it starts with an open Slack channel where people have a safe space to ask questions and raise blockers, so they always know there’s somewhere to go for support.
On top of that, we run a standing office hours call where we get together, peer review each other’s work, and do demos. It’s another way for people who might not want to post in Slack but will bring something to the call for a second set of eyes. And then the third layer is documentation: implementation guides and write-ups of the tricky problems that come up, so the knowledge is captured somewhere and shared across teams.
Our wider team knowledge shares run on a simple rhythm too. On Mondays, I gather topics for discussion, and on Wednesdays people come and present anything cool they’ve built, anything tricky they’ve solved, or something they want peer reviewed before they commit to it. They’ve got all the brains in one room to sense-check against. That’s really the heart of it: giving people a place to think out loud together.”
Beyond just building something that technically works, how do you make sure a solution actually gets adopted and used well by the client’s team?
Amy Blackburn: “Demo as early as possible. I tell the team I build alongside to get something in front of the client every week. We can build in such a silo, so deep in the technical weeds every day, that we forget a lot of our clients aren’t in the weeds at all. Getting them past that initial unfamiliarity with a new platform early is one of the biggest things you can do for adoption.
What really drives adoption is catching reactions early, and from the right people. It’s great to take requirements from a sales leader, but you have to sit with the sales reps who’ll actually use the system day to day, because their expectations are often completely different. If you skip that and only find out after go-live, you’ve spent months building something and all you hear back is frustration. The other half of it is building so you can hand the keys over. We’d love to stay on forever, but the goal is a system the client could take over and run themselves, not a here it is, go figure it out. That means demoing often, checking in, and investing in the change management as much as the technical build.”
A lot of consulting is knowing when to challenge what a client has asked for, not just build it. How do you approach pushing back, and where does the real value come from?
Amy Blackburn: “There isn’t one single example, because I think it’s our job as a team of architects to push on almost every project. The requirements we’re handed are usually ‘go build this,’ based on what the client wants right now, because they’re heads-down in their day-to-day. Where we add real value is doing our due diligence up front: stress-testing the solution and the design before we ever go into build.
A lot of that value is in giving them a solution based on the best the system can do, and on the range of implementations we’ve seen across so many different industries, plus the enhancements or tools they may not even know exist yet. I’ll regularly, and kindly, challenge a client. One of my favourite parts of the job is getting into a client’s process and asking, ‘Can you walk me through why it’s done this way?’ Sometimes it’s been done that way for ten years because someone built it like that once, and a fresh set of eyes is what removes the friction. That’s a lot of the value of bringing in a consulting partner rather than building it in-house. You get the experience of all those different implementations, and a perspective that’s hard to develop from a single vantage point. That different lens is what clients are really hiring us for.”
Mentorship shows up a lot in this role, coaching other leaders and team members toward better outcomes, not just reviewing their work. How do you approach that kind of coaching at a leadership level?
Amy Blackburn: “I try to keep feedback conversational. I know feedback can be a scary word for some people, but it’s how we grow, and it doesn’t always mean changing course. Sometimes it’s just considering a different point of view. So rather than walking someone through what they did wrong, I’ll approach it as an open discussion. Same as I do with clients: ‘walk me through why you did it this way, what were you thinking here?’ I want to get on the same level as them and understand where they are coming from because everyone is genuinely trying to do their best.
A lot of that style came from our Women in Tech and Business community. We had this series in our monthly sessions and I loved how openly we could speak and give each other real-time feedback on real scenarios. It felt like a safe space for honest conversation, and I’ve carried that into how I coach. Having strong female leaders to learn from, and seeing their approach up close is something I’ve really taken on board.”
Architecture work often needs long stretches of focused, structural thinking, but leading a team also means staying available and responsive. How do you protect space for one without leaving the other behind?
Amy Blackburn: “I’m deliberate about blocking time in my calendar for heads-down work, including client work that happens outside of calls, because once you’re on back-to-back calls the day can just run away from you. I protect a dedicated window for that deep, structural thinking, and I guard it, because when you’re focused on a hard problem for a long stretch your brain does get fatigued.
The flip side is that when I’m with my team, I’m actually there. I’m not context-switching or half-writing a document while I’m on a call. If I’m in a one-on-one, I’m present for it. I also make a point of stepping away and taking proper breaks throughout the day, and honestly, coming back to a problem with fresh eyes really helps me reset and return with a clearer head. It’s a juggling act, but being intentional about both the focus time and the breaks is what keeps it working.”
The field moves quickly. How do you stay current as a technical leader, and how do you help the people around you do the same?
Amy Blackburn: “A few ways. I keep an eye on LinkedIn and the wider ecosystem, and when something new lands, I’ll just try it, spin up a demo or a dev org and play with it myself. Getting hands-on is how it sticks, and it means I can actually support the team on something instead of just talking about it. A fair amount of what I pick up comes from our own blog posts and content too.
And honestly, I lean on my team a lot. I’m lucky to be surrounded by experts: people who are brilliant with Agentforce and AI, others deep in field service, others who know CPQ and ARM inside out. Nobody keeps up with all of it alone; there’s too much, but if we stay curious, keep experimenting, and share what we find, we keep pace together. Part of my job is making sure everyone has the room to go deep in their own corner.”
Which Lane Four value do you find yourself leaning on most in your day-to-day work, and why?
Amy Blackburn: “’Be curious’, with ‘Do good work‘ right behind it. Even at a senior leadership level, I’m still very hands-on. If I’m supporting a project with a new product or feature, I’ll go and build it myself, tweak it, play with it, until I really understand it. I want to go into a project or a new feature understanding as much as I can, so I can support the team and our consultants as well as possible. Keeping my technical brain sharp is part of how I stay useful to them.
And ‘do good work’ is really just wanting to do a good job for every client, whether it’s a small engagement or a larger one. No two projects are ever quite the same; each one presents a new challenge and I like that. Honestly, what I enjoy is the work itself, a tight deadline, a tricky implementation, a go-live that hits a snag and needs a heads-down fix. That’s why I couldn’t point to one project over the others. I want to do right by all of them.”
For someone hoping to grow into an architecture or technical leadership role, what advice would you give them?
Amy Blackburn: “Hold onto your tenacity. It’s a hard industry, and it can be especially hard for women, though it’s genuinely getting better. That grit matters, because the payoff is worth it.
But more than anything, be okay with the unfamiliar. The tech changes constantly, and faster every year, no one can keep up with all of it. You have to make your peace with not knowing everything. What carries you isn’t knowing every bell and whistle. It’s a strong foundation and a logical, methodical way of thinking. So stay grounded there, keep trying new things, and root your work in doing it well rather than doing all of it at once. And when you can, slow down a little, because it can be a lot.”
There’s no single blueprint for becoming a strong architect. Amy’s path ran through hands-on IT support, a computer science education, and a first implementation big enough to teach her to think structurally before she’d learned to think any other way. What ties it together is a way of working that starts with the data and the business outcome, not the platform: read what the system is actually telling you, define a first phase worth shipping, show people something they can react to, and be honest about what the build really takes.
That blend of technical depth, deliberate structure, and plain human curiosity is what good architecture looks like at Lane Four. Whether she’s reframing a phase plan around a single critical data point, gently challenging a process that’s been unquestioned for a decade, or protecting the space her team needs to do their best thinking, Amy is a reminder that the most durable systems come from people who stay curious, own the work, and never lose sight of the person who has to use what they build.
Want a Salesforce team that designs for where your business is headed, not just where it is today, and stays honest about what the build actually takes? Let’s chat.